


With Power and Tranquility

by unrelentiing



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Cults, Drug Use, Eventual Romance, F/M, Journalist AU, Mint Eye, Rating may go up, Reporter AU, Saeren will be mildly creepy at first, which is it idk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-12 14:47:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19947916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unrelentiing/pseuds/unrelentiing
Summary: As time passed, Naeun felt stuck. Nothing she did seemed to satisfy her. It isn't until a source tells her of invitations being sent to people that go missing a short time after. Curiosity leads her straight into an unseen fight between two clashing organizations.While meeting new people and finding new information on her search for the truth, Naeun realizes that trauma manifests itself in different ways. Some more violent than others.





	With Power and Tranquility

In a small city in Korea, sunlight flickered into the room of a small apartment, which at the moment was inhabited by two people. A woman was preparing a drink for her guest, long brown hair fell forward as she leaned against the counter. Her eyes were focused on the task in front of her since she was deep in thought about the meeting taking place. 

Naeun walked from the kitchen towards the man sitting in the living room. He was referred to by one of her most trusted sources. Which meant she hopefully would not get faulty information tonight. 

She worked primarily in web design for a small firm, but on the side, she worked as a reporter. Her reputation was continuing to grow as she kept submitting different articles, which resulted in being able to do web design part-time. At the moment, she wasn’t feeling fulfilled. The articles that were submitted lately just weren’t good enough for her. She felt like she was stuck. 

Dad used to say that was one of her faults, she couldn’t learn how to be grateful in the moment. Always curious and chasing after a constantly changing goal. Her dad was a detective, so her counter-argument would be that she was doing the same thing as him. Exposing injustice, just in a different way. 

Her dad would then tell her that she needed to learn when to be cautious. Also that she should’ve picked a more stable career. 

Inviting a new guy into her apartment was not the best way to show she was being cautious. He emphasized that he didn't want to meet in public and was skittish since arriving. Naeun hoped that inviting him into her home was a worthy act of trust. 

She set the drinks on the table, looking at the man on the couch, and flashed a small smile. He was slouched and fidgeting. His eyes were looking anywhere but at her. 

“I’m really happy you agreed to meet with me,” I said slowly. His eyes shot up to meet mine. “My source says you are very reliable, and that you got a good story for me.”

“...Um, yeah,” he said quietly, “I hang around the bars a lot and there have been rumors goin’ around.”

That made sense. Naeun always relished in how alcohol could give her all the information she needed. She recalled many times she found out amazing details for stories from people who had a little too much alcohol. 

“I see,” I replied “well. what kind of rumors?”

The guy swallowed. “There’s been people going missing lately…one including my friend. I’m not sure exactly what’s going on, I’m not the investigative type, but I was drinking and heard some men talking. Rumors about a new religious group popping up.”

He started to stutter over his words, “apparently a lot of them were talking about how they were going to be free from their pain.”

Naeun was taking notes and pondering the explanation. Missing person’s cases were not her thing unless it was involved with trafficking, and overall this seemed to be pretty vague. She didn’t know if she was going to put her time into it.

“Look, I have something you could maybe use to help you out,” he said. 

He rummaged through his bag and pulled out an envelope, pulling out what looked like a postcard. 

She took it and analyzed the contents. “It’s an invitation for something,” he mumbled, “I just don’t know what.” 

Her curiosity perked up immediately.

* * *

The sound of cars filled the small apartment, ‘perks’ of living right next to a busy street. It was early, and Naeun grabbed her coffee mug and walked through towards her desk. Everything at the moment felt comfortable. The young woman didn’t need much since she was usually alone, and keeping a smaller place meant saving more of her money for other things. 

She opened a drawer and pulled out a file of information she gathered over the past couple of months. While continuing the web design job, she started to go deep into this new case. More information started popping up about invitations to a new religious group, though at the same time they seemed to be under the radar. It seemed like these invitations were targeted towards vulnerable people, and most ended up going missing. Some said that they were leaving for a spiritual retreat, and no longer contacted loved ones after that. 

Naeun wasn’t sure what to think of all this. The first option was that it is most likely a cult. Though it was hard to tell how deeply rooted they were, since they only had these invitations as information. It was hard to assess how much of a threat they were. 

The invitations found read: “Meet the people who will love you forever. Attend the endless party. Don't you want to escape from this filthy world? This is an invitation to paradise. Are you suffering from your past? We will help the pain go away. A world filled with pleasure... A world filled with truth... A world with no tears... A world with no rejections... Accept the angel's invitation. Magenta, where everyone is happy…”

* * *

Weeks passed and Naeun was stumped. Invitations would continue to pop up, but there were some new developments. Flyers were posted informing people of an app testing opportunity for Mint Eye. People who opted in were able to stay in dorms and enjoy other benefits, no experience required. There were similar logos on the invitations and the app flyers. It was of the same distinctive eye. Naeun knew that they were related. Though, she still had no clue where to go from there. She could always call the number on the flyer, but that seemed way too risky. There were no expectations, and she didn’t want to end up being shipped off to another country. So, the only thing she could do was reach out to sources again. 

Luck happened to be on her side today. As she was about to call her third course, the phone in her hand started to ring instead. It was a familiar number, so she answered it. The woman who called started talking right away and Naeun couldn’t help but smile at how she was finally going somewhere.

* * *

Naeun loved when her work led to traveling. All of her work could be done at home, which meant she spent an ungodly amount of time there. 

She was driving to a relatively secluded location. The town was bigger and had enough department stores and fast food places that it could be considered a small city. It was surrounded by a lush forest and mountains. 

This place reminded Naeun of her childhood, playing outside and feeling the grass underneath her feet, surrounded by the flowers her dad loved to plant. She loved the smell of the forest and being here made her realize that she hasn’t been out of the city in a long time. 

At least she had her tattoos, she thought to herself. Flowers on her left arm and left leg. So, in a way she could take nature wherever she went. 

She started to form a plan as she parked in a secluded lot. Her source informed her that a couple of guys were asking people if they were interested in a new job. The job involved working on the business side of a new church and provided food and housing. Overall, it sounded like a great deal. If interested, they were invited to an information session that takes place tomorrow. My source pretended she was interested and gave me the business card she received. They happened to have the same eye logo on them. 

It was troubling that they couldn’t tell how large this group was. They had the means of marketing to a lot of people through various methods. This meant that they should have a decent amount of income. It was just too hard to tell the specifics of everything. 

She rubbed her forehead, eyebrows furrowed in frustration as she chose her next action. In the end, just going to this information session would be the best course of action.

* * *

Naeun arrived at the information session 20 minutes early. The group reserved a room at a community center to present their information, so it seemed official. She wanted to come in early so she could observe the other people interested. Overall, everyone was normal. Some were more underdressed than others, but nobody stood out to her. She wore a plain top with a black pencil skirt. Plain and simple. 

She tugged at the hem of her skirt, shifting from one leg to the other, just continuing to observe the surroundings. Passing time on her phone was an option, but she didn’t want to miss any details. In total, it seemed that there were eleven more people including her that were interested. 

Time continued to pass until the presentation room opened, revealing a tall man. He smiled at the group and introduced himself as Jin. He looked to be about mid-twenties, black hair, tanned skin and was dressed in a black button-up and dress pants. 

Everyone was ushered into a room that was smaller than her initial assumption. The room had twelve chairs, split into two rows of six. They faced a screen which was to the left side of a podium. Besides Jin, there were two other men in the room. Possibly security or assistants, she couldn’t tell. 

“Hello everyone, I hope you all weren’t waiting for too long,” Jin said as he walked up towards the podium. “I’m happy you all showed up to this session, your interest in employment for Mint Eye is highly appreciated. Ideally, I would like the presentation aspect of this to take up the least amount of time, so we’ll get started right away.” 

The lights dimmed and the Mint Eye logo showed up on the projector. Jin took in a breathe and began. 

“Mint Eye is an organization dedicated to removing pain and suffering from the world, through primarily charity work. It is ambitious but we believe with dedicated members we will succeed. We have a main location for our services and where our believers stay to strengthen their faiths.” On the screen, pictures of buildings in the mountains appeared followed by pictures of various amenities they had. They had a gym, a pool, a theater, a chapel, and various workspaces. Naeun was floored, this group had to be big. There’s no other way they’d be able to afford this. 

“We are constantly growing,” he continued, “and we need individuals to help manage this growth, which is why we are now hiring. Your responsibilities would vary from day to day, but ideally, it would involve budgeting aspects of the organization, and helping plan various expansions and projects.” 

This guy was a great talker. He was poised and made eye contact with everyone in the room. It was obvious that he has done this many times. 

“Though, due to our tight-knit community, we require all employees to live on site. Certain areas of our building may be blocked off, but that is only because they are for higher personal or believers only. Since dormitories and food are provided, the pay is slightly above minimum wage. The only things that need to be paid are to cover the utilities.” 

Jin continued with his speech and Naeun went back into her thoughts. She realized that they didn’t refer to themselves as a church, but they had a chapel and believers. That made it a little confusing for her to figure out what they did. The speech went on about aspects of the job and what we’ll be expected to be capable of. The job itself was not hard, Naeun has worked in management jobs before so she knows what to expect. For most people, the hardest part would be having to live on site. Naeun’s attention went back completely to Jin since he was about to end his speech. 

“It is unnecessary for me to have an interview process, but I would appreciate those interested to talk to me before they leave so we can talk about the hiring process. These jobs aren’t necessarily difficult so we don’t require experience, just a good work ethic. Thank you all for coming.” Interesting. Naeun thought they must need people, or they’re just desperate for recruits. It was pointless to dwell on that. Her focus was on the fact that she now had a way into this group, without the possibility of getting murdered right away. She just actually needed to succeed in getting hired. 

A few people have already started to walk up to him and ask him questions, others left the room. When the line to speak with him thinned out, she decided to take a chance. She wasn’t the best at being interviewed since she usually asked the questions. But, Naeun was still confident she could tell him what he wanted to hear. 

“Hello,” Naeun said reaching out her hand, “my name is Naeun and I’m interested in working with your organization.” 

Jin smiled at her and shook her hand. “Hi, I’m glad to hear that. What areas are you interested in the most?”

“Either finance or general planning,” she replied, “I'm a flexible person.” 

Either department would provide a lot of information on how the organization worked. She knew that she could make copies of whatever documents she received. Hopefully, she could work on projects that were above her pay grade if she kissed up to the right people. Also, she needed to remind herself to bring a couple of hard drives to back up the data. 

“Perfect,” Jin said, obviously pleased, “we love people who aren’t stuck in one box. Our founder loves people with an open mind, she takes pride in flexibility.”

Noted. The big boss was a woman. Naeun could only imagine an old religious lady trying to spread her beliefs but that image seemed too...childish?

“When will you be ready?” His question snapped her out of her thoughts.

“Hm, I need a couple of days to pack but I should be ready soon.” 

“Only a couple of days?” He said tilting his head curiously. “I’m surprised, most people need a longer time to completely lift their lives and move.”

Naeun released a small laugh, “well, I guess you could say I live light.” Which wasn’t a lie? The bulk of her items were the endless notebooks she had, her laptop, and clothes. When she used to have friends over, they’d joke about how dull her place looked because she spent her money on clothes and notebooks. 

“Well there are always perks to living light,” he responded, “you don’t have ties anywhere.” 

He was oddly pleased with that. Naeun was a little taken aback and only replied with a small sound of agreement. 

“But don’t worry,” he continued, “you’ll be able to take root with your new colleagues at Mint Eye and grow into something great.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, guys! Welcome to my first multi-chapter fic. I'm actually really excited to write this one since I've wanted to work on a Saeran x MC fic for a while. This first chapter is for everyone to get a feel of who I want MC to be in this. Ideally, I want her to play an active role in the story, which is something that isn't played out in dating sims a lot. So, don't worry, the bad boy will make an appearance next chapter. 
> 
> I have a general idea of where I want this story to go, but I've already edited this beginning a lot so we'll see how the rest goes. Next chapter should come relatively soon, I just need to edit it.  
> 


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